how to help students conquer comprehension reading section in GCSEs

Reading comprehension in National exams contains 12 comprehensive questionswith 2 passages: Passage 1 with 250-300 words in length includes 5 comprehensive questions.Passage 2 with 350-4

PART ONE: INTRODUCTION

I Rationale:

Nowadays English has become an international language because it is widelyused in many parts of the world and in many fields of our life In Viet Nam, Englishhas become a core subject at school and a compulsory subject in every GCSE Studying English to prepare for exams especially reading comprehension section is

a difficult problem and usually makes students discouraged What is more, it is afact that questions related to comprehension reading have now become a mandatorypart of various examinations Reading comprehension is the part which makesstudents lose the most points Most students fear the reading comprehension inNational exams They are overwhelmed with vocabulary they don’t know themeaning

Reading comprehension in National exams contains 12 comprehensive questionswith 2 passages:

Passage 1 with 250-300 words in length includes 5 comprehensive questions.Passage 2 with 350-400 words in length includes 7 comprehensive questions.Comprehensive questions used in the two passage vary between easy andintermediate level or high level In the case of English language exams, answeringcomprehension questions is not an easy task To solve the questions students need awide range of vocabulary, and structures I know that the majority of studentsalways find it hard to do this type of tests At first sight, they do not figure out thecontent of the passage, but they are not patient enough to read the passage to theend under the pressure of time during the test As a result, many students ignore thepassages or usually put this part aside and return to it at the end of the test time Atthat time they choose the answer at random On the other hand, teachers rarelyshow or sometimes refuse to teach students how to do the Reading Comprehensiontest

From the fact above, my concern is always how to help my students to facethe fears of comprehensive questions and enable them to answer the questions moreeffectively If they conquer the questions in reading comprehension section, theresult in GCSEs will be improved much According to students, the part in whichstudents usually make the most errors is Reading Comprehension This part may

be the most difficult and become students’ “nightmare”

From the rationales mentioned above, I have decided to write my own

experience initiative on the topic “how to help students conquer comprehension reading section in GCSEs”.

I hope that my experience initiative will equip my students effective

strategies to overcome challenging questions in comprehension reading and help

students of Mai Anh Tuan high school confidently come in the coming nationalexamination

II Aims of the study

The research aims to:

- helping the 12th grade students at Mai Anh Tuan high school understand thenature

of comprehension reading questions in national exams

- Improving students’ reading skills by analyzing the tests in the previous nationalexaminations

- Giving students some ways to confidently deal with popular types ofcomprehension reading questions in national exams tests so as to complete thetests best my students can

- Helping students be more confident when taking the next national examination

to get full mark on this reading comprehension part of test

III Participants of the study:

Participants of the study were 12th grade students in three classes (12A, 12C,12G) at Mai Anh Tuan High School The study was carried out during the academicyear 2018 – 2019 at Mai Anh Tuan High School

IV Methods of study

In the process of doing the study, I used several research methods:

2 Questionnaires:

The aims of the questionnaires were:

- to discover whether students like and understand the lesson, and whether theyunderstand the questions clearly

- to discover which part of tests is the most difficult, which part they are afraid of

- to know whether the ways I have given are really effective

classes Therefore, after every reading practice test, I always jotted down theresults, the questions many students make mistakes

6 Analyzing and comparison:

- After every mock test, I analyzing the students’ work and compare with theprevious

result to find out what students have achieved and what is their weakness

PART TWO: PROBLEM SOLVING

I Basis of the study:

Reading comprehension, the report noted, is the result of many differentmental activities by a reader, done automatically and simultaneously, in order

to understand the meaning communicated by a text These mental activities include:

• Predicting the meaning of a text;

• Determining the purpose of a text;

• Activation of prior knowledge in order to

• Connect prior experiences to the text;

• Identify word and sentence meanings in order to decode the text;

• Summarize the text in order to create new meanings;

• Visualize the characters, settings, situations in the text;

• Question the text;

• Decide what is not understood in the text;

• Use strategies to improve understanding of the text;

• Reflect on the meaning of a text;

• Apply understanding of the text as needed [1]

Reading comprehension is not learned immediately, it is a process that islearned over time In other words, reading comprehension takes practice Goodreading comprehension comes only with practice [2] Without readingcomprehension skills, they're unable to fully understand the content, predict whatwill happen next In reading comprehension test, reading skills are tested, notvocabulary Therefore, students need strategies, some tips to get over readingcomprehension

II Basis of facts:

There is the fact that the result of English in national examinations ofstudents from Mai Anh Tuan High School hasn’t been dissatisfying Undeniably, it

has been considered as the “depression” in learning English map Here are the

statistic about the results of 2017 and 2018 national examinations of Mai Anh TuanHigh School:

School year : 2017 Subject: English Class Number

Average

result, students put no efforts into the part of Reading Comprehension Meanwhilethis part accounts for approximately one fourths of the score in the whole test Itwas the facts that inspired me to do this research

III Reasons for students’ fear:

The major problem that makes students afraid of reading comprehension isvocabulary Having a good vocabulary means that it becomes much easier for thestudents to understand the questions and it enables them to understand the meaning

that the given passage is trying to imply Having poor vocabulary can be verydisadvantageous for students, especially when attending competitive exams, whichare heavily based upon time management They easily get flustered when they seepassages that have a harder vocabulary and meaning It might become difficult tounderstand the meaning of the passage given When students fail to understand thelanguage, most of them lose interest in studying for such answers Consequently,students get confused and do not know what they need to find from the text andhow to choose the answers

IV Mistakes when doing reading comprehension tests:

Mistakes students usually make when doing reading comprehension tests:

- Too much dependence on vocabulary

- Time manage is not suitable Students either avoid doing readingcomprehension questions or spend too much time to translate every word

- Always assume reading comprehension questions are all difficult Rememberthat the level of comprehensive questions can vary a lot

V Tips to do reading comprehension tests:

The 10 following tips are the best ways of attacking a reading passage to get themost correct answer in a limited amount of time

1. Do not spend too much time reading the passage Keep in mind that it is

not expected of every student to understand all the lines, sentences andwords of the given paragraph

2. Be familiar with questions There are some common types of questions in

GCSEs Being completely familiar with questions helps students save time

3. Don’t worry if a reading passage is on the topic we are unfamiliar.

Remember that all of the information that we need to answer the questions isincluded in the passages

4. Skim the reading passage to determine the main idea and the overall

organizations of ideas in the passage

5. Look ahead at the questions to determine what types of questions you

must answer Each type of question is answered in a different way

6. Find the section of the passage that deals with each question

7. Read the part of the passage that contains the answers carefully.

8. Read the options and eliminate the unreasonable options

9. Do not spend too much time on a question we are unsure of If we don’t

know the answer, simply guess and go on Return to this question later if wehave time

10. Guess to complete the section before time is up [3]

VI Types of question:

Reading can be a tricky skill for English-language learners to master,and reading passages in GCSEs can be challenging for my students To do well on

the reading section, students need to have a quick reading comprehension speed.This requires an understanding of grammatical structures and knowing of variouswords

The Reading Comprehension in GCSEs is designed to measure how well studentsunderstand what they read Students have only about 15 minutes to read twopassages the answer 12 questions These questions are divided into different types

of questions Each passage usually has 3 or 4 types of questions to answer

There are mainly seven different types of reading comprehension questions thatare tested in GCSEs:

1. Main idea question

to take note of important parts of the passage, saving time Here is a quick down of each question type you will encounter

run-1 Main Idea Question

Main idea questions test your ability to capture the big picture the centralthought or significance of the passage Main idea questions are the most commontypes of Reading Comprehension questions These questions are often asked as firstquestion after the reading passage

How to identify this type of questions: Such a question may be worded in a

variety of ways, you may be asked to identify the topic, subject, title, primary idea, main idea, main point, mainly about, mainly discus…

In most cases, the main idea will be expressed in one or two sentences in thefirst paragraph Students study the beginning to determine the main idea Take anexample in the test of 2018 GCSE - Code: 401

In the test of 2018 GCSE - Code: 401

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 36 to 42.

A letter of application is a sales letter in which you are both salesperson andproduct, for the purpose of an application is to attract an employer's attention andpersuade him or her to grant you an interview To do this, the letter presents whatyou can offer the employer, rather than what you want from the job

Like a résumé, the letter of application is a sample of your work and an

opportunity to demonstrate your skills and personality If it is written with flair

and understanding and prepared with professional care, it is likely to be veryeffective While the résumé must be factual, objective, and brief, the letter is your

chance to interpret and expand It should state explicitly how your background

relates to the specific job, and it should emphasise your strongest and mostrelevant characteristics The letter should demonstrate that you know bothyourself and the company

The letter of application must communicate your ambition and enthusiasm.Yet it must be modest It should be neither aggressive nor compliant: neither patyourself on the back nor ask for sympathy It should never express dissatisfactionwith the present or former job or employer And you should avoid discussingyour reasons for leaving your last job

Finally, it is best that you not broach the subject on salary Indeed, even if a

job advertisement requires that you mention your salary requirements, it isadvisable simply to call them "negotiable." However, when you go on aninterview, you should be prepared to mention a salary range For this reason, youshould investigate both your field and, if possible, the particular company Youdon't want to ask for less than you deserve or more than is reasonable

(Adapted from by Linda Lee and Erik Gundersen) "Select Readings Intermediate")

-Question 36: What is the passage mainly about?

A Advice on how to find a good job

B Things to avoid during a job interview

C Tips for writing an effective letter of application

D Differences between a résumé and a letter of application [4]

In the above given passage, there are four paragraphs Students should be sure toread the first sentence of each paragraph to determine the main idea The first

sentence of the first paragraph of this passage is “a letter of application”, and the second paragraph begins with “the letter of application” The first sentence of the third paragraph tells of “the letter of application” Therefore, the best choice is

answer C

2 Vocabulary questions:

In a reading "Vocabulary question", there are a number of questions that askfor the meaning of a word depending on the context Students are asked to look atone word or phrase in a reading passage and choose another word or phrase withsimilar or opposite meaning and are given 4 answer options It is helpful if studentsknow the meaning of the word that is being tested However it is not alwaysnecessary to know the meaning of the word or phrase Using context clues and

structural clues can help students find the correct answer It is, of course, helpful to

read the sentence that the word is in, the sentence right before, the sentence right

after This area of the passage surrounding the word is called the context Contextclues are the words, phrases, and sentences that surround the word we do not know.Many sentences and paragraphs contain enough information to use the clues thatthe

writer has left to figure out the meanings of many words we do not know

How to identify this type of questions: Such a question may be worded in a

variety of ways, you may be asked to identify the word that could be placed, is closest, opposite, similar in meaning….

In the test of 2018 GCSE - Code: 402

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 28 to 34.

There are many African tribes but, for many people, the Masai are the mostwell-known They are famous for their bright red clothing and their ceremonieswith lots of music and dancing Probably, one of the most colorful ceremonies isthe festival of "Eunoto," when the teenage boys of the Masai become men

Eunoto lasts for many days and Masai people travel across the region to get

to a special place near the border between Kenya and Tanzania The teenage boys

who travel with them are called "warriors" This is a traditional name from the

past when young men fought with other tribes

At the beginning of the ceremony, the teenagers paint their bodies whiletheir mothers start to build a place called the "Osingira," a sacred room in themiddle of the celebrations Later, the senior elders from different tribes will sit

inside this place and, at different times, the boys go inside to meet them Later in

the day, the boys run around the Osingira, going faster and faster each time

The teenagers also have to alter their appearance at Eunoto Masai boys'

hair is very long before the ritual but they have to cut it off In Masai culture, hair

is an important symbol For example, when a baby grows into an infant, themother cuts the child's hair and gives the child a name At a Masai wedding, thehair of the bride is also cut off as she becomes a woman And so, at Eunoto, theteenage boy's mother cuts his hair off at sunrise

On the final day, the teenagers meet the senior elders one more time Theyget this advice: "Now you are men, use your heads and knowledge." Then, peoplestart to travel back to their homes and lands The teenagers are no longerwarriors They are adult men and now they will get married and have children.Later in life, they will be the leaders of their communities

(Adapted from "Life" by John Hughes, Helen Stephenson and Paul Dummett)

Question 29: The word "warriors" in paragraph 2 mostly means .

A dancers B fighters C musicians D travelers

Question 32: The word "alter" in paragraph 4 is closest in meaning to .

A. differ B change C maintain D distinguish[4]

Question 29 asks the meaning of the word “warriors” To answer this question,

we should look at the sentence following the word “warriors” “this is …”

indicates the definition or explanation of “warriors” is going to follow The

information following “a traditional name from the past when young men fought

with other tribes” See the four given options: A dancers - B fighters - C musicians - D travelers So the best answer is B.

Question 32: Do the same as question 29 We look at the sentence following the

word “alter” The information following “Masai boys' hair is very long before the

ritual but they have to cut it off.” There is a change See the four given options: A differ - B change - C maintain - D distinguish So the best answer is B.

Another example for clues from part of word for vocabulary questions:

In the test of 2018 GCSE - Code: 405

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 28 to 34.

Body language is a vital form of communication In fact, it is believedthat the various forms of body language contribute about 70 percent to ourcomprehension It is important to note, however, that body language varies indifferent cultures Take for example, eye movement In the USA a child isexpected to look directly at a parent or teacher who is scolding him/her In othercultures the opposite is true Looking directly at a teacher or parent in such asituation is considered a sign of disrespect

Another form of body language that is used differently, depending on theculture, is distance In North America people don't generally stand as close toeach other as in South America Two North Americans who don't know eachother well will keep a distance of four feet between them, whereas SouthAmericans in the same situation will stand two to three feet apart NorthAmericans will stand closer than two feet apart only if they are having aconfidential conversation or if there is intimacy between them

Gestures are often used to communicate We point a finger, raise an eyebrow,wave an arm – or move any other part of the body – to show what we want to say.However, this does not mean that people all over the world use the same gestures

to express the same meanings Very often we find that the same gestures cancommunicate different meanings, depending on the country An example of a

gesture that could be misinterpreted is sticking out the tongue In many cultures

it is a sign of making a mistake, but in some places it communicates ridicule

The dangers of misunderstanding one another are great Obviously, it is notenough to learn the language of another culture You must also learn its non-verbal signals if you want to communicate successfully

(Adapted from by Judy Rapoport, Ronit Broder "Reading Academic English" and Sarah Feingold)

Question 31: The word "misinterpreted" in paragraph 3 is closest in meaning

to [4]

A misunderstood B misspelled C misbehaved D mispronounced

Question 29 asks the meaning of the word “misinterpreted” To answer this question, we notice that the word “misinterpreted” contains the word part “mis”, which means error, and the word part “inter”, which means “between”, “among”.

See the four given options: A misunderstood - B misspelled - C misbehaved - D.

mispronounced So the best answer is A

Below are lists of some common word parts.

3 Reference questions:

In a "Reference" question, students are asked what the bold word refers to Ifit's a pronoun then you need to identify what word the pronoun is replacing It isvery important to understand that a noun is generally used first in the passage andthe pronoun that refers to it comes after Therefore, in order to answer a referencequestion we should look before the pronoun to find the noun

How to identify this type of questions: Such a question may be worded in a

variety of ways, you may be asked to identify word to which “it”, “they”, “them”,

“those”, “one”, “which” refer.

In the test of 2017 GCSE - Code: 403

Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D on your answer sheet to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions from 36 to 42.

Most weddings in Japan start with a religious ceremony in which usuallyonly family members attend Afterwards, a banquet is customarily held to whichmany people, including friends and colleagues, are invited To celebrate thehappy occasion, guess give the bride and groom goshuugi - gift money in specialenvelopes Goshuugi from friends is usually 20,000 yen or 30,000 yen

A typical Japanese wedding party starts when the bride and groom enter